Louisville lands in Yelp’s Top 20 Cities to Shop Local list

Online site Kentucky for Kentucky offers great local gifts.

It’s no surprise Louisvillians like to shop local for the holidays, as evidenced by the popular art festivals, bazaars and holiday events that pack venues all December long, as well as the numerous locally owned stores dotted throughout the city. But sometimes, it just feels good to be validated.

Who doesn’t need one of these? They’re available at the Louisville Visitors Info Center.

According to a recent Yelp and Harris Poll, 64 percent of Americans plan to shop local this holiday season, totaling nearly $40 billion for independent retailers. The folks at Yelp analyzed reviews of local businesses from all over the country to come up with a list of the Top 20 Cities to Shop Local, and Louisville landed at lucky No. 13.

“If you live in Louisville, you know how important buying local is to Louisville’s identity. Its local businesses are a huge part of what make the Derby City spirit so unique and ‘weird,’ says Yelp Louisville’s Emily Hagedorn. “And Louisville really wouldn’t be Louisville without its locally owned businesses — big and small — along Bardstown Road, Frankfort Avenue, South Fourth Street, East Market Street, Norton Commons, on the South Side and really along pretty much any street in the city.”

According to a press release, they used a strict methodology to come up with the results: “To determine this list, we created a ‘gifting score’ for each city by looking at reviews mentioning the word gift at businesses in specific shopping categories that are popular for holiday. We then ranked those cities based on the ‘gifting score’ and included up to two cities per state.”